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Social News 18/12
Ha Noi told to fight sexual harassment in public transport
The National Committee for Traffic Safety asked the Ha Noi
People's Committee to combat sexual harassment against women and girls on
public transport.
Accordingly, relevant agencies must identify locations, public
transport routes and road sections where sexual harassment often occurs. The
city must also improve lighting in areas where women are vulnerable to sexual
assault, broadly announce telephone numbers for police in case of emergency
and give instructions and advice on how to avoid and what to do when
encountering sexual harassment.
Women should be provided training in necessary skills to
protect themselves in public places, and authorities should encourage them to
report sexual harassment and other physical abuse, the committee said.
Additionally, the city must tighten control over areas where
sexual abuse is common in order to discover and punish criminals.
Deputy chairman of the Ha Noi People's Committee Nguyen Quoc
Hung assigned the municipal Department of Transport, the police and the Ha
Noi Transport and Services Corporation (Transerco) to implement the above
tasks.
The request was made following a survey of 2,046 people
recently conducted in Ha Noi and
According to the survey, 57 per cent of women aged 16 and
above considered streets the locations where sexual harassment against women
was most likely to happen.
As many as 87 per cent of women and girls said they had
experienced sexual harassment through actions such as whistling, teasing,
comments on their appearance and staring at or touching sensitive parts of
their bodies.
About 31 per cent of school-aged girls involved in the survey
suffered sexual harassment on buses.
Deputy director of Transerco Nguyen Viet Trieu told the
VnMedia e-newspaper that the city authorities had not specified the penalties
for sexual harassment, so the company could only issue warnings or ban those
at fault from getting on the bus.
Discovering violators was important, but it was even more
important to have strong penalties in place, he said.
Ha Noi urges speed on bus station expansion
Ha Noi's People's Committee asked the Ha Noi Transport
Corporation to speed up construction on the My Dinh Bus Station expansion and
assure its completion by January 2015.
Nguyen Quoc Hung, vice chairman of the committee, made the
request after inspecting the project and its progress on Monday.
The expansion area was expected to ease the station's current
problem with overcrowding. The project started during the first quarter of
last year. The company planned to complete construction by the middle of
January 2015.
The My Dinh Bus Station expansion was approved last year, with
Ha Noi Transport Corporation investing VND55 billion (US$2.5 million). The
expansion will be about 13,000 square metres.
During the inspection, Hung also assigned the People's
Committee of Nam Tu Liem District to work with police and transport
inspectors to crack down on temporary parking lots that overcharge passengers.
My Dinh Bus Station has been operating for ten years. Covering
a total area of 20,000 square metres, it hosts more than 200 transport
companies with more than 150 bus routes.
Ha Noi launches hotline for infrastructure-related issues
The city recently launched a central hotline for citizens to
report infrastructure-related problems.
The 24/7 hotline 04.38445566 will take calls about issues such
as urban lighting, trees, electricity and water supply.
The hotline, which is completely free of charge for landlines
and mobiles with post-paid plans, will transfer reports or inquiries from
citizens to responsible authorities.
The city's Information and Communication department said
citizens previously did not know what number to call to report a problem, as
the city's infrastructure network was managed by various organisations and
enterprises that operated their own hotlines. Some failed to publicise their
hotlines, while others did not even have them.
This caused unnecessary delays and meant that problems were
often reported too late or not directed to the right authority.
Head of Post and Telecommunications Nguyen Tien Sy said the
hotline began operating in July and was approved by the city People's
Committee last month. At one point, the hotline received around 20 calls a
night.
Citizens were asked to keep track of how quickly repairs were
done for the problems they reported. When responsible authorities failed to
address the problems in a timely manner, citizens were told to report them
again.
Sy said the second phase of the hotline project would focus on
implementing IT to improve the hotline's capacity to register, transfer and
record calls. A function to handle reports made in English was also being
considered.
Illegal printing of calendars discovered
A local company was found illegally printing about 10,000
calendars for 2015 during a surprise inspection on Tuesday by the southern
The Bien Hoa city-based Thien Khai Production Trading Service
Co., Ltd failed to provide legal documents for the calendars as well as
another 1.5 tonnes of unfinished calendar papers. A representative of the
company admitted the calendars were printed by the company without a legal
contract.
The company also purchased fake anti-counterfeiting stamps
from the black market to stick on the calendars.
The local authorities are continuing their investigation.
Chicken smuggled from
Border gate officers in the
Local truck driver Le Van Hung, 29, admitted being hired by an
unknown man to transport the chicks.
All the chicks were destroyed by local authorities.
Health ministry launches online public services
The Ministry of Health introduced on-line public services
level 4 to help food production and trading companies in applying for
certifications on meeting food safety regulations and conditions.
Service level 4, the highest of the four administration
service levels in the country, is expected to create more convenient
conditions in the registration process for enterprises involved in the
healthcare sector.
The on-line registration service level 4 will allow people,
businesses and management units to perform administrative formalities, submit
required forms, handle documents and payments and receive results using only
a computer connected to the Internet.
Speaking at the launching ceremony today, Health Minister
Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said that the application of information and technology
in health administrative management aimed to improve management efficiency,
which will result in better handling of community health concerns. In
addition, this move will provide more convenient means to offer public
services to the people.
"The application of on-line service level 4 is one of the
steps taken by the Ministry of Health towards administrative formality
reform," proclaimed Tien.
"It will create favourable conditions for enterprises, especially
in terms of reducing expenses and time, and increase the transparency and
publicity in health administrative management," said Tien.
Tien added that the ministry would extend the level 4 on-line
public services to include drug and medical equipment management in 2015.
The ministry started a pilot registration for advertising the
content of dietary supplements and food with micronutrients under ministry
management early August this year.
Viet Nam Food Administration Director Tran Quang Trung said that
nearly 600 enterprises that had registered for advertising the content of
their dietary supplements and food with micronutrients have been issued
authorisation by the on-line service system since the beginning of August.
Sao Thai Duong JSC Marketing Director Hoang Van Giap said that
the on-line service in food safety management would create transparency and
publicity, as well as ease the difficulties encountered by enterprises in the
implementation of administrative procedures.
Levels of public service registration
Level 1: Procedures to fill in the required forms and
information about time and service cost are available on-line.
Level 2: The service allows the user to download the required
forms to be printed out and filled in later.
Level 3: The applicant can fill in and submit the forms
on-line.
Level 4: Service payments can be settled on-line. Transaction
results are available either on-line or by post, upon request.
Hydropower project comes to a halt
The central Quang Tri provinces Peoples Committee halted the
work of the Darkrong 4 hydropower project yesterday because the contractor is
unable to implement it.
Thuong Hai JSC had been awarded the contract in May 2008, but
had failed to fulfill its duties without any valid reason.
The committee said that no significant progress was made by
the contractor to start the project.
The firm will have 20 days to hand over all documents related
to the project, and transfer the management of the projects site to the local
authority.
New school model applied in primary schools nationwide
The new school model for Vietnam (VNEN) program has been
applied in primary schools nationwide since the 2012-2013 academic year that
focuses on reforming teaching method and assessment to childrent in line with
new standards. It could be considered as a better method to children for the
wider world and help them to speak out what they think.
Looking at the Vietnamese language period of Class 2C in Da
Thanh Primary School in the suburban district of the central highlands city
of
Team leaders are dignified in their speech showing their real
role in leading the peers. Teachers just act as facilitators and will only
intervene in case of necessity.
Teacher Bui Thi Kim Dung of Class 2C said that she and her
colleagues spent a lot of times guiding students the new learning methods by
actively reading books and searching for more documents to supplement the
lesson in textbooks.
When students get accustomed to the new learning method,
teaching is simpler. With better self-awareness of learning, students are
confident to deliver their speech before the class; and there should be a
close coordination between teachers and parents to encourage practice at
home, said teacher Dung.
From the 2012-2013 academic year, Da Thanh Primary School has
applied VNEN for second and third graders and til now it has been taught for
fifth graders.
Principal Le Thi Kim Oanh said that teaching quality is
improved and students become more confident. Teachers’ skill is enhanced in
an attempt to intruct their students to cope with the new method.
According to teachers, VNEN helps form friendliness and
students are not afraid when their teachers give them the question. The modest
and diffident students become more active to raise questions of what they
don’t understand to teachers and their peers. Especially classes have some
K’Ho ethnic minority students who are very shy and modest also become active.
Nguyen Kim Long, head of the Primary Section of the Department
of Education and Training in the central highlands
Director of the MoET's High School Education Department Vu
Dinh Chuan said the application of the new model as per the decree No. 29 on
education reform is expected to pave the way for the next new teaching
methodology.
VNEN will be implemented in junior high schools in the
Currently, the program has been implemented in 63 provinces
and cities with 746,000 primary student participants.
Elephants push back against human encroachment
A growing number of incidents involving elephants pushing back
against human encroachment on their natural habitat has prompted the Ministry
of Planning and Investment to step up a monitoring programme to limit
conflict.
Under the VND74 billion (USD3.5 million) plan, the Dong Nai
Natural and Cultural Reserve will be upgraded, with VND45 billion coming from
the state and the balance from the provincial budget and other sources.
The Dong Nai Forest Ranger Unit said the province had 20
elephants about ten years ago, but only 11 are left in Dong Nai Natural and
Cultural Reserve.
Elephants are dying of starvation in
Local residents are concerned about the threat of elephant
stampedes on their livelihoods. Villagers in Nghe An Province say the number
of incidents of elephant attacks, at least one of them fatal, has been
increasing due to the reduction of natural jungle, which is causing a food
shortage for the wild pachyderms.
Authorities of Vinh Cuu District People's Committee say they
use torches and gongs to chase the elephants away.
"From 2013 to the first nine months of 2014, there were
300 stampedes," a committee official said. "The stampedes destroyed
100 hectares of sugarcane, 50 hectares of cashew tree and other crops."
The elephant monitoring project is being put out to tender.
About 30 kilometres of electric fencing will be erected in Vinh Cuu District
to contain the elephants and protect local people and crops.
The fence, both solar powered and connected to 220V mains
power, is to prevent elephants from entering certain areas, but will not
inhibit the travel of other, smaller creatures. It is hoped the project can
be completed within 12 months.
Tran Van Mui, director of Dong Nai Natural and Cultural
Reserve, said reserves in other provinces are using similar methods.
Le Viet Dung, deputy head of Dong Nai Forest Ranger Unit said
a more effective plan would be to relocate 1,200 households living in and
near the reserve, but local authorities say such a measure would be too
expensive due to the limited amount of funds available for wildlife
management.
Paid Christmas escorts trending among young Vietnamese
In recent years, an increasing number of young Vietnamese who
do not want to spend the holidays alone have turned to escort services, many
of which charge millions of VND, to avoid a lonely Christmas.
T.N, a Vietnamese living aboard, said that he wanted to bring
a girlfriend out with his group of friends on his visit to
According to many who work in this area, when it was first
introduced, there were not many people who thought it was a good idea. But
over time, demand picked up.
Now it is easy to go online and a special, if temporary,
someone to provide company.
T.N said, "My requirements are simple. The girl should
have a fairly good appearance, speak English and must allow me to hold her
hand." He said at first the company did not agree on the holding hands
part, but finally gave in when he was insistent.
"The deal was that I need to send the girl home by
10pm," he said. "I have many friends who are girls, but I feel like
if I asked them along they might misunderstand my feelings. Plus, I wouldn't
feel comfortable."
The price normally is usually around VND1 million for three
hours if the escort leaves before 10pm. Dates that last until midnight cost
extra. Despite the steep prices, the service is thriving among young
Vietnamese.
One Vietnamese girl explained that she wanted to hire a
boyfriend to come with her to a party because she thought it might be painful
to be alone when she sees her ex boyfriend with his new girlfriend.
Ha Giang targets minority poverty
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh said that Ha Giang province
needs to solve its ethnic minority land issues, especially for those living
in the province's poorest areas, yesterday at the province's Second Ethnic
Minority Peoples Congress.
The Deputy PM said that province authorities should also focus
on preserving forests and implementing policies that maximise the province's
potential.
In response to the Deputy PM's requests, Ha Giang People's
Committee said that the province would work harder to implement beneficial
policies for ethnic minority communities over the next five years.
The People's Committee added that the province would improve
its management of investment funds, further develop agriculture and preserve
local traditions and cultures.
Ha Giang is a mountainous province in the north of
During the last five years, Ha Giang province has made some
remarkable achievements. Chief among them was the reduction of poor
households from 35.28 per cent in 2011 to 26.95 per cent in 2013, and raising
the average income by 6.67 per cent to VND16 million (US$762) in 2014.
The province also improved the infrastructure in mountainous
and ethnic minority areas, and maintained a healthy GDP growth rate of 10.35
per cent from 2011 to 2013.
In 2013, the province's industrial production brought in VND
3.2 trillion ($152 million)—double 2010's numbers and 58.3 per cent higher
than 2013's target number.
Ha Giang's tourism sector was a major contributor to the
province's growth, promoting local cultures and the Dong Van Karst Plateau.
In the first eight months of 2014, the province recorded 410,000 visitors,
nearly equal to the total number of visitors last year.
At a seminar titled Multidimensional Poverty Measurement held
in
In 2014-15 it was set at an annual income level of VND16
million, while the "near-poverty" line was between VND16 million
and VND21 million.
At these levels, the city has a poverty rate of 2.43 percent
and a near-poverty rate of less than 3 percent, meaning it achieved the
poverty reduction target a year ahead of schedule.
Hua Ngoc Thuan, deputy Chairman of the city People's Committee
and head of the city's Steering Committee for Poverty Reduction and Improved
Household Livelihoods, noted the importance of poverty alleviation but warned
about the risk of people sliding back into poverty.
According to the committee, a one-dimensional poverty approach
based on income is insufficient because it is not able to measure several
elements in people's daily lives.
Adoption of the UNDP's multi-dimensional approach can measure
the delivery of public services, he said.
According to the UN body, the character of urban poverty is
different, being less defined by livelihoods and more by deficiencies in key
capabilities and capacities, all linked to access to public services.
A 2012 survey found that the city had no poor people if based
on the national standard, but the ratio of households facing a shortage of
public services such as healthcare, education, and clean water was high. But
since most of these families were not technically poor, they were not
eligible for free or subsidised public services.
With the UNDP's support, the city has piloted the
multi-dimensional approach in four districts for monitoring, evaluation, and
policy formulation before adopting it city-wide between 2016 and 2020.
"Multi-dimensional poverty approaches have achieved
global traction by providing a robust alternative to – and complementing –
income-based measures," UNDP deputy country director Bakhodir Burkhanov
told the seminar.
"They are particularly applicable in middle-income
countries like
There are enormous opportunities for the city's work to
further inform the national process, and to provide a template for
replication elsewhere in
The seminar was organised by the HCM City Steering Committee
for Poverty Reduction and Improved Household Livelihoods and the UNDP in
collaboration with the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative.
This helps the country better understand the root causes of
poverty and design better-targeted policies and programmes.
Pesticides circular lacks safety push
A draft circular on managing pesticide, compiled by the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, lacks stipulations that would
help make Vietnamese-produced pesticide safer, officials said yesterday at a
forum in Ha Noi.
Nguyen Van Thieu, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Pesticide
Association, said at the forum that the items under the draft circular would
make it more difficult for domestic companies to produce and trade pesticide.
Although it would be necessary to tighten management of
pesticides, taking safety standards from other countries and applying them in
For example, current regulations state that safety testing
must be done by certified laboratories before pesticides are imported into
He said the circular also lacked provisions encouraging
companies to use bio-products, or materials, chemicals and energy derived
from renewable biological resources. The more environmentally friendly
substances are expected to eventually replace pesticides using high levels of
toxic chemicals, he said.
Tran Quang Hung, chairman of the pesticide association, said
many items on the circular didn't make sense and were difficult to
understand, which might lead to inconsistent implementation.
According to the association, shortcomings in policies as well
as shortages of development-oriented policies were to blame for
Pham Thi Thu Hang, the general secretary of the Viet Nam
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said a lack of Vietnamese pesticides forced
the agricultural sector to import pesticides. It has paid US$1 billion for
pesticides from foreign countries each year, she said.
Tran Oanh of the Viet Nam Plant Protection Association, said
the Plant Protection Department – the body that monitors issues related to
pesticide – should organise a meeting where companies and agencies can ask
questions about the circular.
A working group of the Steering Committee for the Programme
02-Ctr/TU on the development of agriculture and rural areas revealed the news
during a conference to review four years of its activities in the outlying
district of Ba Vi on December 17.
Beyond that, 165 communes set target of meeting 14-18 out of
19 criteria for new rural development, and 155 others satisfy 10-13 criteria.
A set of the above 19 criteria were defined under the National
Target Program on New Rural Development which was approved in 2010, covering
infrastructure, production, living standards, income and culture targets that
localities have to meet.
In agriculture sector, the output value generated by more than
1ha farming land in
Cultivation and forestry make up 40.3 percent while animal
husbandry and fisheries account for 56.5 percent, with services as the
remaining.
Chairing the conference, Deputy permanent Secretary of the
Hanoi Party Committee and head of the committee Nguyen Cong Soai praised the
working group for counselling local authorities on a scheme to build new
rural areas.
He asked the group to reconsider policies on farming land,
mechanisation and vocational training for farmers.
The same day, the municipal Vietnam Women’s
The central city of
Addressing the ceremony, Chairman of the municipal People’s
Committee Van Huu Chien stressed that the city is always grateful for the
dedication and sacrifice by martyrs and heroic mothers.
Over the past years, generations of the municipal leaders have
exerted every effort to build
In the past few years,
In 2014 alone, 950 houses were repaired and built at the total
cost of 22.6 billion VND (1.1 million USD). The figure is expected to
increase to 1,000 next year.
An Giang: 35 Khmer ethnic students awarded scholarships
The “Vu A Dinh” Fund presented scholarships to 35 Khmer ethnic
students in the Mekong Delta
Those students, who are from poor families in Tinh Bien and
Tri Ton districts, have had outstanding academic performance.
Speaking at the ceremony, Former Vice President Truong My Hoa,
who is President of the fund, said the granting of scholarship aims to
encourage ethnic children from disadvantaged background to keep up their good
work.
An Giang province is home to around 80,000 Khmer ethnic people
who account for 4.2 percent of its population. Schools in the province teach
subjects in both Vietnamese and Khmer languages.
Established in 1999, “Vu A Dinh” Scholarship Fund has so far
given over 50,000 scholarships to students from poor ethnic communities and
helped build schools, bridges and houses for the poor.
It has been raising money for the construction of schools in
islands as well as implementing a number of specialised education projects.
Vietnamese, Lao border guard units set up twinning ties
The Quang Chieu frontier post under the Border Guard Command
of the central
The event is part of activities to mark the 70th founding
anniversary of the Vietnamese People’s Army (VPA) and the 25th anniversary of
the All People National Defence Festival (December 22).
From now on, the two sides will work together in fostering the
traditional friendship, protecting the common borderline, and preventing
cross-border crimes.
Joint border patrols will be conducted every three months and
whenever an emergency situation calls for, with the two sides to inform each
other at least 7 days in advance.
They also agreed to hold quarterly meetings to review the
border protection and management work with a view to timely dealing with
emerging problems.
Catholics solidarity committee maps out 2015 plan
The Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics on
December 17 held its second plenary conference in the 2013-18 tenure,
focusing on reviewing patriotic movements among the Catholic community in
2014 and drawing out plans for 2015.
A report at the event said that patriotic movements among the
national Catholic community have become stronger and more effective in 2014,
the first year that the committee has implemented the regulations and
resolutions issued during its sixth National Congress.
Local committees in provinces and cities launched various
movements designed to suit the specific characteristics of each locality,
such as the drive to build “model parishes” in Hanoi, Quang Ninh and Ha Nam,
a movement encouraging Catholic parishes and families to join hands in
building new-style rural areas in Nam Dinh, and a campaign promoting the role
of Catholic mothers in Dak Lak.
Religious dignitaries, parishes and Catholics nationwide have
contributed tens of billions of VND and hundreds of thousands of working days
to build infrastructure in their localities in response to the national
campaign to build new-style rural areas.
In addition, charity continued to be a focus in the Catholic
community’s activities, the report said, highlighting such examples as Father
Huynh Cao Thuong in Ben Tre province’s Giong Trom district who donated more
than 500 million VND to charity besides giving out one tonne of rice each
month to the needy, or Father Phan Van Dien in Nam Dinh province who helped
raise donations to build 50 houses and drill 20 water wells for the poor while
providing 100 lonely elderly people in the province each with 100 kg of rice
every year.
In 2015, the committee plans to continue enhancing patriotic
movements among the community, and organize the fourth national congress to
honour role models among the Catholic community.
Addressing the event, Vice President of the Vietnam Fatherland
Front (VFF) Central Committee Le Ba Trinh lauded the community for its active
role in promoting patriotic movements, as well as the pioneering role of the
committee’s members in the movements.
He said he hopes the committee continues to coordinate more
closely with the VFF as well as other relevant agencies in order to convey
the legitimate wishes of the Catholic community to the authorities, while
popularising policies and laws of the Party and State as well as
socio-economic plans to the churches, religious organisations, priests and
followers, thus enhancing social consensus about the cause of national
construction and defence.
The VFF leader pledged that the VFF will support and create
all possible favourable conditions for the Catholic community to implement
patriotic movements, helping raise the role and social prestige of the
Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics in the nation and among
Catholic community.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Năm, 18 tháng 12, 2014
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